Wed, March 26: Leave the USThurs, March 27: Arrive in Beijing; Summer Palace tourFri, Mar 28: Temple of Heaven in the morning; Lunch at Dai Jia Cun Restaurant; Hutong Tour and the Chinese Acrobat Show in the afternoonSat, Mar 29: Great Wall of China; Forbidden Palace

Sun, Mar 30: Fly to Xinjiang (Urumqi)Mon, March 31: Meet Toñito!!!!:)Tues, April 1: Do adoption processWed, April 2: Sightseeing around UrumqiThurs, April 3: Sightseeing around UrumqiFri, April 4: Paperwork for the Consulate

Sat, April 5: Fly to GuangzhouSun, April 6: Free day/shoppingMon, April 7: Medical exam & visa photos for childrenTues, April 8: American Consulate (ACS) appts- at 9:00amWed, April 9: Take oath at ACS about 6:00pm and farewell dinner

Thurs, April 10: Take the train to Hong KongFri, April 11: Sightseeing in Hong KongSat, April 12: Fly home!!

Monday, February 25, 2008

We just got updated pictures and measurements of our cutie-pie! He is almost exactly the same height and weight as Vivi!:) They also say he has 20 teeth. Look at his beautiful smile and dimples!

Given name: Xin ZhuXin= last name, given to kids at his orphanage in XinjiangZhu= "pillar"Name we will use: Antonio ZhucaiAntonio (Toñito)= name used for many generations in Toño's familyZhucai (zh like s in measure, c like the zz in pizza or the c in potica: shoe- tseye)= we are keeping the Zhu part and adding "cai" which means "talent/ability." When put together, Zhucai connotates a leader, or someone who excels

Right now we are waiting for our "travel approval (TA)," which is issued by the Chinese government. This week I need to apply for our visas at the consulate in Chicago. Then, as soon as we get our TA we can get our flights. We are tentatively traveling March 27-April 12!! So exciting!!!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

We are having a LOT of fun in this deluge of snow this winter. We've been trying to train Boo and Mingo to pull Vivi on the sled for the past 3 years and they finally (kind-of) have assumed the inevitable role of Morales sled dogs. The little guy at the end of the video is Vivi's good buddy, Ewan.

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Chinese language distinguishes between maternal vs. paternal relatives, and younger vs. older relatives.. So here is the grand list of family members in Chinese: (please copy and paste for your own use- I got many from APC... also let me know if any are wrong!!!!)

Our agency allows people adopting kids 2+ to send a little care package during the wait. We are sending a disposable camera (I can't wait for these pictures!), a little car toy, a monkey beanie baby (Toñito was born in 2004- year of the monkey), and a little book I made for him with pictures of family members. I really like the book, and am hoping they don't lose it! On each page I have a picture, and then the person's name in English and Chinese (the characters and pinyin). Then I laminated it for messy 3-year-old hands and put the cards on a key chain ring.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Toñito lives with a foster family, however he goes to pre-school every day at a nearby orphanage called "Urumqi CWI (Children's Welfare Institute). Most of the healthy children have a similar living-schooling situation. Nonetheless, there are many children with special needs (many times they are a little older) that live at the CWI so they can receive appropriate care. We have heard from other families that have visited that they are in need of certain items that are harder to attain in this off-the-beaten-track location. Therefore, I am currently collecting the following items to bring with us this spring:

art supplies/manipulatives- to be used for therapy for children in primary school/jr. high

rubber pants, all sizes- to be used for children with spina bifida/no bowel control

clothes sizes 6+- these definitely can be gently used!

cleft bottles- to be used with kids with cleft lip/palate

Enfamil sells a bulk box of 72 cleft-bottles for $144, so I will be collecting money to purchase these. These bottles really save lives, and are unavailable in China- here is a quote from one advocacy article on rainbowkids.com:

"It’s such a little thing. A $3.00 special bottle for infants who are born with cleft lip/palate. Here in the U.S., and throughout the industrialized world, these bottles are sent home with every family that gives birth to a child born with this craniofacial disorder. Unfortunately, these bottles are ONLY available in developed nations.For the thousands of infants born in developing nations and living in orphanages, their chances of survival without this $3.00 nurser, are about 10% or less."

In addition to collecting the above items from my MOMs Club, family, and friends, I am also collecting donations to sell at a garage sale this spring, with the proceeds to benefit this orphanage. So, if anyone has any gently used furniture, tools, electronics, household items, baby items, sports equipment, books, etc, etc, that you were already going to donate (or you just want to remove some clutter from your basement and help out a worthy cause!) please let me know! Remember, a little bit of US dollars goes a lot farther in rural China...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

After many months of procrastinating, the Morales Family has a blog... we are sharing our story with our family and friends as we travel to China to bring home our son, and then come home and enjoy life with our kids. Having loved ones around the world, it is important for us to stay in touch and share little snapshots of our daily adventures (and colorful at that with 3 kids under 4!). So come for the Great Wall pictures and stay for the snowball fights (learning to ride a bike, sand castles in Mexico, eating too many blueberries, and other accounts from the frontline). And we'll see you at the next fiesta?

China!

About Me

We are Becky and Toño, parents to 4 beautiful kids: Toñito (age 6, born in Urumqi, China and home at age 3.5) Vivi (age 5), Maya (3 yr), and Ricky (age 3, born in Shebedino, Ethiopia and home at age 3). We are sharing our story with our family and friends from when we travelled to China to bring home our first son, and then our second son. Now we are now enjoying life with our beautiful kids. Having loved ones around the world, it is important for us to stay in touch and share little snapshots of our daily adventures (and colorful at that with 4 kids 6 and under!).